I’m a Bill Murray fan. You have to be to enjoy his movies at all. No matter what character he plays, it’s hard to forget that you’re watching Bill Murray do his thing. Especially in scenes where he’s improvising with extras (Lost In Translation) or with kids, as he does in Broken Flowers. You either find his dry riffing charming or chafing. Likewise, followers of director Jim Jarmusch are a particular lot, willing to give in to the methodical rhythms and easygoing pace of his quirky character sketches. Murray and Jarmusch make a sublime combination, possibly moreso than Murray and Wes Anderson (in whose films Murray is brilliant, but too often amped-up for effect). Broken Flowers lets Murray settle into the Charlie Brown role he hints at in every performance: a fuzzy layer of sanguine depression shrouds him no matter how joyful or lucky in life he appears to others. His smile is a tired, borderline shrug, and he faces the good and bad with an equally weary demeanor. A romp in the sack with the effervescent Sharon Stone or a slug in the eye from an angry rival elicit the same ho-hum reaction. For sure, it’s a comedic tool that works well for the veteran clown, and the film has lots of elaborate set-ups for putting it to use. Anyone who’s seen the trailer can guess what roads the story travels. The end is likely to frustrate anyone who found Lost in Translation vague or anticlimactic. But there are enough interesting characters and funny surprises to make it worth the trip.

There are no comments yet. You could be the first!